Attracting and retaining high-quality teachers in the profession is a matter of significant policy concern. Increasing teacher salaries and creating more attractive compensation packages are often proposed to achieve this goal. However, average real teacher salaries have remained stagnant over the past decade and have not fully recovered from the…

Funding for community colleges varies significantly, even within the same state. Several factors account for these differences, including more generous funding for smaller institutions to compensate for their higher costs per student, unequal local funding from property tax revenues, and political forces. In theory, this variation could lead to…

English learners (ELs) are a fast-growing and diverse student population in the U.S. K-12 public school system. Representing more than 400 languages spoken, EL students bring rich linguistic and cultural traditions to their communities. To better understand education finance equity for EL students in the Southeast, this analysis focuses on nine…

A 2009 federal call to action seeking to improve postsecondary outcomes was largely underscored by a financial recession that continues to have lasting effects on state funding for public postsecondary education. In an effort to improve efficiency while also growing the number of postsecondary completers, states began adopting performance…

Innovation in education is vital for responding to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and for building progress on longstanding challenges in schools. The infusion of substantial, highly flexible pots of federal relief dollars created an opportunity to pilot new programs and initiatives. Many states and districts opted to invest…

In the United States most teacher compensation issues are decided at the school district level. However, a group of states have chosen to play a role in teacher pay decisions by instituting statewide teacher salary schedules. Education Commission of the States has found that 17 states currently make use of teacher salary schedules. This education…

Alternative approaches to raising funds for public schools have long been critiqued for their approach to providing an equitable and adequate distribution of educational goods. Inherent in these core concepts of fairness are ethical questions that drive how policy and practice evolve to generate revenue for the education of children. This paper…

To effectively plan, launch and scale high-quality personalized, competency-based learning models, most educators and school leaders require intentional, sustained capacity-building supports. Therefore, states are identifying sustainable funding strategies for statewide initiatives to build this capacity. Options include state funding for a…

The University of Arkansas Center for Education Reform's report on charter school funding inequities proclaims large and growing inequities between school district and charter school revenues, even after accounting for differences in student needs. But the report displays complete lack of understanding of intergovernmental fiscal relationships,…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) playbook series has explored strategies and processes states can use to strengthen CTE program quality and provide students with pathways to postsecondary credentialing and middle- and higher wage career opportunities. In the first three CTE Playbooks, ExcelinEd provided a high-level view of how states can…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on the Promise of Public Schooling and includes: (1) America Does Not Have to Stay Stuck at Losing One in Four High Schoolers (María…

Students need learning experiences connected with the world of work to equip them to enter the workforce and secure good jobs. This report provides an overview of funding for career and technical education and a detailed look at Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding models in Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West…

The growing numbers of English language learners across the country provide an opportunity for state policymakers and education leaders to invest in and reap the benefits of a well-educated, culturally competent workforce. In this article, the authors review state-level ELL funding for the ten states experiencing the highest ELL population growth…

Prior to the United States Supreme Court's decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" (1954), educational finance litigation focused almost entirely on the equitable distribution of state educational financing, ending preferential disbursement of state funds. This ended in 1973, with the United States Supreme Court's decision in "San…

Forty-four of the fifty states have experienced school finance lawsuits as a consequence of funding gaps between rich and poor districts. In some states, such as Kentucky, lawsuits brought about by property-poor districts have resulted in a statewide remedy that reforms the property tax system and seeks to provide every child with an adequate…